Todd Williams may be one of the most vocal cheerleaders celebrating the turnaround of Dallas public schools.

The school district had 43 schools failing state academic accountability in 2014. That number's down to four.

Now Williams is trying to persuade state lawmakers to copy Dallas ISD's playbook as they overhaul how public schools are funded. Since being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the school finance commission, Williams has repeatedly pointed to Dallas as an example of how more money spent strategically results in more success for students.

"We're the fastest-improving urban district in the state, and we should be proud of that," said Williams, founder of the nonprofit Commit Partnership that works on education issues across Dallas County.

Dallas' Todd Williams, chairman & CEO of The Commit Partnership, is spending most of his time in Austin pushing for school finance reform.

(Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)

"Should we spend our money as smart as possible? Yes. Are there low-income districts that are spending their money wisely? Yes. Should we try to replicate that? Yes."

It's hard to separate DISD's and Williams' imprint on the school finance debate. Few outside North Texas knew of Williams before his time on the commission. But he's quickly become a go-to adviser to state leaders, from lawmakers to the governor, which bolsters Dallas.

Supporters call Williams a bridge-builder who uses data to find what's working and influence public policy. But critics question why a retired Goldman Sachs executive is interested in education policy, suspecting his motives are for profit or to further charter schools.

Many feared that yet another state commission on education policy would just be window dressing. But after a year of research and gathering input from education leaders across the state, what emerged was a plan — largely penned by Williams — that urges lawmakers to invest billions more into public schools in strategic ways.

Even skeptics hope this will be the year the Legislature finally overhauls funding, sending more money to schools.

The plan greatly focuses on what goals Texas has for students and a road map on how to get there. It includes provisions such as providing $100 million for districts to offer a merit-pay system to attract the best teachers and giving districts a financial incentive to improve failing schools. Both initiatives are mirrored on Dallas efforts.

Now Williams, 58, is spending most of the legislative session in Austin urging state leaders to take action.

"We're trying to get this transformational educational system in place, and he's out working it," said Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who's chairman of the Senate Education Committee and also was on the commission. "I mean, he's not just taking care of Dallas. He's taken this on as a statewide thing as well."

Searching for answers

At a glance, Williams — a wealthy business executive — seems to have little in common with the children of Dallas, many of whom come from low-income families.

But the Bryan Adams High School alum says he knows what it's like for a struggling family. His family could barely contribute less than $100 a year to help him get through Austin College as grants made up the rest.

"The only reason I do this job is because I grew up in a low-income background, and I'm tired of watching low-income kids not succeed," he said.

Williams has long donated to various local and national causes through his family's foundation, including to Austin College, where he also served as a board trustee. Williams' three oldest sons attended public schools; the two youngest are in a private school.

His passion to get personally involved in education started about 20 years ago when he and his wife, Abby, were sponsoring scholarships for Dallas seniors. They mentored many of them and quickly realized that even the top graduates weren't always prepared for college work.

The Commit Partnership released an annual scorecard outlining gains and challenges throughout Dallas County.

(Eva-Marie Ayala/The Dallas Morning News)

Todd Williams, CEO and found of The Commit Partnership, speaks at the 2018 Dallas County Scorecard release hosted by the Dallas-based education nonprofit.

(Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer)

Soon, they were spending much of their time on education, including working to launch an Uplift Education charter campus in Dallas, which is now named Williams Preparatory.

By 2010, Williams wanted to focus solely on education. He retired from Goldman Sachs as a partner and global co-head of the firm's real estate private equity investment area.

The hard work began in 2011, when lawmakers cut billions from public education. Williams chaired a DISD advisory committee that analyzed the district budget looking for savings. He soon became Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings' education adviser.

"That's when he told me his vision to create a group that did deep dives for data-based answers," Rawlings said. "I wanted to focus on DISD, but he said it had to be across Dallas County so we can learn from each other. And he was right."

Commit started in 2012 with a handful of volunteers. Williams' family foundation donated about $100,000 a year to help as it was starting, according to tax filings.

Now, with a staff of 50 and more than 200 partners, it tackles complex issues in education by pooling resources and analyzing data to address gaps and inequities in schools.

For example, that means getting different groups to collaborate on early-childhood education efforts and then tracking how children perform better on state tests after attending a quality prekindergarten.

Commit was the guiding force behind the launch of Dallas County Promise, which has districts and community colleges working together to get students in the county access to free college. Commit then tracks student progress along the way to identify stumbling blocks.

"You can't get successful things done based on an anecdote," Williams said. "Data identifies the problem and conveys a sense of strategy and conveys progress and results."

Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa admits he was skeptical about working with Williams and Commit at first. But Commit's data showing academic growth has helped get community and business support for DISD.

"He's never once told school districts what to do," Hinojosa said. "He's just listened and provided us information and data. Now, he has access to those legislators. We had our own relationships, but it hasn't hurt that Todd also has them."

Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, is among those who have come to rely on Williams' input. The lawmaker came to appreciate his quiet, analytical approach while the two served on the commission together.

"He cares about kids," Huberty said. "Hell, he's using his own — he started Commit with his own fricking money! I mean, he could've gone for a private jet and lived in France or Cabo or whatever he wanted to do. And he said, 'No, I don't want to do that. I want to make a better system for my kids and everybody else's kids.'"

But some are concerned about his motives, suspecting Williams must be making money from Commit's influence. It's not uncommon for critics to express concern at local board meetings about Commit's involvement in schools.

Toni Johnson, a school volunteer and president of the Roosevelt High School Alumni Association, has attended three school finance presentations in Dallas.

She mostly likes what she hears but is among those reluctant to trust any input from Williams. She's worried that Commit may be swaying community groups.

"I'm in Roosevelt every day, and I see that our kids are not getting the best education that they can," she said. "Then this organization over here is getting bigger and bigger? You have over 200 partners? I just see it as being a hostile takeover of education."

Concerns about data

Dallas wasn't much of a role model not too long ago, with its high number of struggling schools.

And while only 41 percent of students are now scoring at the "meets" standard on state tests, the district is improving at a faster rate than the state and much faster than other urban districts.

That's because DISD used data to drive change and focus on key strategies, observers say.

Those initiatives include identifying the most effective educators through a merit-pay system, largely based on analyzing student test scores, and then launching the Accelerating Campus Excellence program that awards teachers a stipend to work at struggling schools.

Williams and others have repeatedly pointed to that Dallas data, showing the resulting gains, as they worked on the commission's plan to reshape education.

As is the case with Dallas' ACEs schools initiative, the commission is recommending that lawmakers funnel more money into struggling schools to turn them around.

It also asks the state to provide additional funds for "differentiated compensation" so districts can explore their own merit-based pay for teachers, much as Dallas does. That funding could eventually grow to $1 billion every biennium under the commission's plan.

But there's hesitation in scaling Dallas' efforts statewide. Even some who celebrate the district's gains note that schools face very different challenges across Texas.

"Dallas ISD had a pretty heavy hand in the work product, considering Todd Williams' work with Commit," said Nicole Conley Johnson, chief of business and operations for Austin ISD, and a member of the commission. But "what works for Dallas is not really going to work for the whole state."

Not everyone likes how much the commission's plan mirrors Commit's focus on data. And others are concerned about what Williams' growing influence means in terms of charter schools, which are public schools operated independently from traditional districts.

"While I think Commit has very good intentions for everyone that they're working with, there are some underlying currents that do not seem to be good for the education for our students in Dallas ISD and possibly for the students across the state," said Rena Honea, president of the Alliance-AFT teachers association in Dallas. "The actions they are working on point to privatization and 'charterization.'"

Williams said he works across sectors of education and with an array of partners because fixing all the challenges in Texas classrooms is too overwhelming for one group to tackle. He notes that he has never earned a salary from Commit.

Williams said that all his efforts are to help children most in need and that he would not be associated with anything that widened education gaps.

"Sometimes if people don't like what you're advocating for, they want to attribute negative motives to it," Williams said. "If I wanted to make a lot of profit, I would have stayed exactly where I was. But it just didn't have the same sense of mission and drive as this. ... These kids, regardless of where they're from, deserve the same chance I had."

Staff writers Rebekah Allen and Robert T. Garrett contributed to this report.